[.ca] Explosive Lifting for Sports-Enhanced Edition (ISBN 0736065768)

Great book about the ONLY way to train athletes!:
So much training in the U.S. is dominated by bodybuilding practices and principles. In "Explosive Lifiting for Sports," Newton breaks down the ONLY way to train athletes, EXPLOSIVELY, with much of the training being dominated by Olympic Lifting (the Clean and Jerk and the Snatch.) It is a refreshing read and is a must have for any coach who wants to decrease a teams susceptibility to injury and improve their performance.

a must read:
Most books and publications focus on the bodybuilding side of weight lifting. This book is all about getting more explosive power, not about growing muscle. Unfortunately, when most people think about strength training, bodybuilding techniques come to mind. This is one of not many books that focus on lifting for purely functional purposes. You will not be doing any concentration curls 10 sets of 10 reps with programs offered by this book. Instead you'll be doing dynamic lifts that are guaranteed to increase your "core" body explosive strength.

Impractical proposal:
The author presents impractical application of Weightlifting Training to other sports. He contends that the explosive feature of Weightlifting could benefit other athletes in advancing their performance and entirely omits the well-established fact that athletic skills are not transferable. A runner, swimmer, golfer, football player, or basketball player would be hindered with training on the Snatch or Clean and Jerk. Athletes long learned that they must train the way they will compete. The author's passion towards Weightlifting led him to such impractical proposal. The book should have been named "Basic Weightlifting for beginners" with only the three chapters on Snatch, Clean and Jerk, and supporting exercises included. The rest of the book is nonsense. The analysis of lifting technique is very deficient mechanically, anatomically, and physiologically. Thus, the 191 pages could be easily reduced to 30 pages of simple description of the basic Weightlifting lifts. The author's fascination with the explosive aspect of Weightlifting is poorly rationalized. This sort of anaerobic exercise can seriously interfere with endurance sports and cause serious setbacks to runners, swimmers, and basketball players who rely heavily on endurance for long and sustained physical activities.

Mohamed F. El-Hewie is very wrong...:
Just wanted to refer to Mohamed F. El-Hewie review of the book. I have never read anything more silly and arrogant than that. "Athletic skills are not transferable...???" What is he talking about? Apparently he is not familiar with the word conditioning or GPP. Weightlifting would enhance any athletic activity if applied properly. Any athlete who needs explosive power for his sport would benefit greatly from Olympic lifts. There is no better activity than Olympic Lifts to develop hip extension power which is fundamental in many sports. MMA fighters, wrestlers, boxers, sprinters, rowers, basketball players... pretty much any "functional" sport athletes are using Olympic lifts in their training. This book is one of the best out there on the subject.